Leonard Michael Collard (born 24 December 1959) is a

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...

elder,

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

and Australian Research Council chief investigator at the School of Indigenous Studies,

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

. Collard is a Whadjuk/ Balardong

, the

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of the

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. He has a background in literature and communications, and has researched areas including Noongar interpretive histories and Noongar theoretical and practical research models. In 2011 Collard started a three-year study of Noongar place names, and intends to create a public website of 25,000 Noongar words for different places around the South West of Western Australia. In 2014 he announced his project to create the world's first online Aboriginal encyclopaedia, Noongarpedia, to preserve the endangered Noongar language.

Publications

* ''Mooro nyungar katitijin bidi - Mooro peoples knowledge trail : interpretation of the City of Stirling Local Government Area literature review.'' Leonard Collard, Angela Rooney and Laura Stocker, 2014 * ''Nartji katitj bidi ngulluckiny korrl? : (which knowledge path will we travel?).'' Len Collard and Sandra Harben, 2010. * ''Beeliar Boodjar : an introduction to the Aboriginal history of the City of Cockburn based on existing literature.'' Leonard Collard and Clint Bracknall, 2001. * ''Nyittiny : cosmology of the Nuyngar of South-Western Australia.'' Leonard Collard, 2008 * ''Aboriginal young people in the southeast of Western Australia : implications for youth policy.'' Len Collard and Dave Palmer, 1991.

External links

Len Collard - Who are you?
Collard's story in his own words - ABC Radio Perth recorded 5 July 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collard, Leonard Academic staff of the University of Western Australia Noongar elders 1959 births Living people People from Pingelly, Western Australia